STILL- BORN OR BORN- AGAIN?
I am honestly concerned for a lot of people, (Street preachers included, some of them are the worst offenders), who believe “Stop sinning and follow Jesus” is the Gospel message for today!
Jesus said (John 3:7) “M…arvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
[Stop sinning and follow Jesus] is self reformation.
[Stop sinning and follow Jesus] is an attempt to perfect the flesh.
*Before the Cross, under the law that was what a man had to do. That is because no New Birth was possible for any man before the death of Jesus Christ.
>>>Heb.9:16 “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”<<<
Right now, today, in this dispensation, in the Church Age, a man is saved by (Acts 15:7-11, Eph.2:8-9, Titus 3:5) Grace through Faith alone. It is peculiar to this age. It is a special time in which God is assembling a (2 Cor.11:2, Eph.5:23-27) Bride for His Son, which is composed of (1 Cor.12:12-27, Gal.3:26-29) the Body of Christ.
*The New Birth today is a {SUPERNATURAL} Spiritual Birth (1 Cor.6:17) ” But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit”, that takes one out of the first Adam, and places him into the second Adam,…..
1 Cor.15:22 ” For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
From (Eph.2:1) being “dead in trespasses and sins”, to being (Rom.6:11) “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1 Cor.12:13 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” Put into the Spiritual Body of Jesus Christ and thus…
Eph.1:6 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
***Now the cold, hard facts are that you can reform the flesh all you want and convince yourself that you have risen to a state of living a sinless life but the fact is no matter what you do, (WITHOUT BEING SUPERNATURALLY BORN AGAIN), you will…
John 8:24 “die in your sins”. God will no longer {hold off} (2 Cor.5:19) imputing your sins unto you. Those sins will be charged to you eternally. They will forever be a part of you, in you and on you, with you in the Lake of Fire.
If you are one of those I am speaking about, I pray you take a long look at what you believe and pray that God would show you the truth in these matters before it is eternally too late!
2 Cor.5:20 I “beseech you” and “pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God”!
2 Cor.5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
YOU CAN NOT ESTABLISH YOUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE CHURCH AGE.
YOU MUST HAVE GODS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND GODS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS JESUS CHRIST…Paul knew and stated it very plainly…
Phil.3:9 ” And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
Jesus said (John 3:7) “M…arvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
[Stop sinning and follow Jesus] is self reformation.
[Stop sinning and follow Jesus] is an attempt to perfect the flesh.
*Before the Cross, under the law that was what a man had to do. That is because no New Birth was possible for any man before the death of Jesus Christ.
>>>Heb.9:16 “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”<<<
Right now, today, in this dispensation, in the Church Age, a man is saved by (Acts 15:7-11, Eph.2:8-9, Titus 3:5) Grace through Faith alone. It is peculiar to this age. It is a special time in which God is assembling a (2 Cor.11:2, Eph.5:23-27) Bride for His Son, which is composed of (1 Cor.12:12-27, Gal.3:26-29) the Body of Christ.
*The New Birth today is a {SUPERNATURAL} Spiritual Birth (1 Cor.6:17) ” But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit”, that takes one out of the first Adam, and places him into the second Adam,…..
1 Cor.15:22 ” For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
From (Eph.2:1) being “dead in trespasses and sins”, to being (Rom.6:11) “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1 Cor.12:13 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” Put into the Spiritual Body of Jesus Christ and thus…
Eph.1:6 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
***Now the cold, hard facts are that you can reform the flesh all you want and convince yourself that you have risen to a state of living a sinless life but the fact is no matter what you do, (WITHOUT BEING SUPERNATURALLY BORN AGAIN), you will…
John 8:24 “die in your sins”. God will no longer {hold off} (2 Cor.5:19) imputing your sins unto you. Those sins will be charged to you eternally. They will forever be a part of you, in you and on you, with you in the Lake of Fire.
If you are one of those I am speaking about, I pray you take a long look at what you believe and pray that God would show you the truth in these matters before it is eternally too late!
2 Cor.5:20 I “beseech you” and “pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God”!
2 Cor.5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
YOU CAN NOT ESTABLISH YOUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE CHURCH AGE.
YOU MUST HAVE GODS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND GODS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS JESUS CHRIST…Paul knew and stated it very plainly…
Phil.3:9 ” And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
And your right about what your talking about…..
Im just saying it was a lot harder to gain Gods grace under the old testament….i wasnt even discussing why they gained his grace…
As far as harder to obtain, see my response below, concerning Adam and Eve. I don’t see them DOING anything hard at all to receive that gift.
Now, concerning Enoch. It says;
Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
He walked with God, this is also why I ask if you know who Jesus is? Because, Jesus is God; Jesus IS THE WORD of God manifested in the flesh. And we must grasp the depth of what that entails!
Notice that it says in the next verse below that Enoch was TRANSLATED. Its curious that he should use that term, huh? Words are translated, Right? And just to establish that point he uses that word three times in this verse. Remember now, His Word is Pure and Perfect. No mistakes!
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Ask yourself this question;Why does it say in both the old and new testaments, “ye are gods”. What does that mean?
Psalms 82:6 “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”
John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
We know that God is the Word; all in caps.
But it also says ye are gods; little g
Is it because we like our own words more than Gods? I think it all has to do with believing the one true word over any and all else! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
Just my thoughts!!!
By no means will I contradict scripture, However, will you consider something here. Which also agrees with scripture!
At the beginning Adam and Eve were given one commandment, of which they broke. They then saw there nakedness, right.
Genesis 3:10 “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Genesis 3:11 “And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”
But God through His Grace gave them a gift WITHOUT them doing any work to get it. He gave them clothing, right.
Genesis 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
And yet still there are so many other like examples of Gods people failing to keep the laws. Yet, God, through His Grace continued to preserve them without anything in return. When He could have just let them go, or killed them for their inequities.
Now we must humble ourselves and realize that just as the scripture say; they are hard to be understood.
2 Peter 3:16 “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
And so I will say this, I do not have all the answers, but I study all the time. And the one thing I do see is God giving the gift of grace all through the scriptures. Just like He did with Adam and Eve.
Yes, there are two covenants one they couldn’t keep, and by His Grace they are still His people and still here as a witness and testament to that fact.
Are you alright, you sound like someone who went off the deep end. You make no sense at all.
amen,
Amen, and AMEN!!!
Thanks for the encouragement , I need that.
If u really think about it God has done everything to help us even sending his only son to help us…..its pretty simple to understand really and people want to complicate it its all in the (av1611kjv)for example arguing a point on a post when the point there arguing isnt even what the post is about…but anyways keep up the awsome work brother Ray really like your website…….PRAISE GOD!!!
And really you are trying to compare a old “contract” with a new “contract” people are to bad to live up to the old so God being the Gracious God he is made it easier for us because we all know he wants us to come to salvation
And i dont think Grace wasnt given in the old testament but it was way harder to obtain….just look at the beginning of the old testament it says everyone died except Enoch it says God took him….if u think about it God really displayed his Grace by sending his only son to make it easier to enter heaven because before Jesus Christ u pretty much had to pluck out your eyes and cut off your hands not saying that the blood of Jesus is a liscence to sin but before the sin was only coverd but now is washed away and thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit to show us right from wrong in the old testament the Holy Spirit came on people and then left cause the sin was only coverd with Christ the sin is gone which the parable of the wine skin explains that…..main thing is the new covenant makes it easier to obtain salvation then the old covenant……PRAISE GOD!!!
Im pretty sure bro ray is trying to say you need Jesus Christ to be righteous in Gods eyes….what i got out of the post was people are preaching stop sinning and follow Jesus Christ which the flesh is carnal were all sinners the law is for unbelievers not believers it is to get people to realize no one can live up to the law and they need Jesus Chtist to be made righteous without our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ our righteousness is as filthy rags……..
You still don’t know WHO Jesus is yet, do you? One day that light will come on for you and you will meet Him!
It took me along time too, Ray! But, when I grasped hold of the concept of the simplicity of Christ, WHO Jesus is. And that light turned on for me it really brought me to my knees.
2 Corinthians 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
You see, we must first let go of all things made of the flesh, even this so called wisdom that you have learned from another man called “dispensations”. Because that is where you learned from, another man. No child reading the bible will ever say “Hey we all get treated differently at different times”. That’s NOT God!
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Let Jesus (the Word) teach itself. If its true, then you have nothing to fear. All the scriptures will agree! There will be NO confusion at all! And you will be capable of answering directly, simply, and honestly. You will not have to play this ring-around-the-Rosie game that you accuse others of playing.
Answer: read my posts on dispensations. There, I showed you, take a look. Bro.Ray
Poor Ray, do you still not understand the scriptures?
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
1Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1Jn 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
1Jn 5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The Word of God (When God spoke – said),
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
that was Jesus. Do you not understand the trinity or Who Jesus is?
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Joh 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
You still will not come to know Jesus, will you Ray? You are to busy trying to get vainglory and honor from men. But Jesus does not need honor from men, does He?
Joh 5:41 I receive not honour from men.
Joh 5:42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
Joh 5:43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
Joh 5:44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
But rather than address the scriptures I presented concerning the fact that Grace has always been here just as the Word as always been here, you digress again (BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO INTELLIGENT ANSWER)! YOU DON’T KNOW THE WORD / SCRIPTURES!
Lets see how far you will let this go before you realize you don’t have the answers. The answers are in the scriptures and you don’t know them well enough yet! So here is the one verse that you do know, notice that it also says to STUDY!
2Ti 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
Please quite the vain babbling!
Show me where it says that grace was not given in the old testament!
The moment God spoke Jesus was here. ??? What are you trying to say? Are you saying God created Jesus? I hope not for your eternity’s sake.
I know, I know you think this has been addressed already but;
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Exodus 33:12 “¶ And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.”
Exodus 33:13 “Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.”
Exodus 33:16 “For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.”
Exodus 33:17 “And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.”
Exodus 34:9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
Judges 6:17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.
Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Proverbs 3:34 Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
Jeremiah 31:2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
Remember our discussion about WHO Jesus is?
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
All the Word is God, All the Word is full of grace and truth!
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
The moment God spoke Jesus was here. So you are correct when you say that grace came through Jesus.
Revelation 21:6 “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”
Isaiah64:6kjv…..But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away………praise God for sending his only son to save us…..without him we are as filthy rags……PRAISE GOD!!
Amen!!!…thats the truth brother